PRODUCT LEADER AND CONSULTANT

WHO I AM
My Journey as a Product Person began as a product manager in 2008 when I discovered the opportunity to build a payments platform for the underbanked using a sound-based contactless transaction technology for a company called TagPay (think Apple pay for 1990s flip phones). I’ve since joined the early teams of several startups including Betterment, Current and Pattern, helping them to launch and iterate towards product-market fit.
In 2016 I joined Pivotal Labs, a software development consultancy known for helping clients learn XP, lean and agile methodologies. Pivotal gave me the opportunity to hone my skills around product discovery and development by helping a wide variety of clients learn and apply these practices in their organizations. At Pivotal I worked with clients including JPMC, Fiserv, Travelers and the US Air Force which gave me a window into the challenges faced by larger organizations looking to transition from antiquated approaches to best practices in software development. I continue consulting today for ProdUX labs and Def Method.
I love working with talented designers and engineers to bring bold ideas to fruition. My skill set is a combination of product management, growth strategy, UX design, and user research. I particularly enjoy translating qualitative and quantitative data into ideas for new or better products and finding clever ways to de-risk those ideas.
I’ve embraced a human-centric approach to product that leverages research, analytics, and well-designed experiments to discover, test and iterate. I studied Mind Brain and Behavior psychology at Harvard and spent a lot of my time there as a researcher for the Spelke lab for developmental studies. In that role I designed, ran and analyzed experiments on babies to deepen our understanding of how they perceive and interact with their social environments. My commitment to rigorous research and experimentation began there and I launched my career in tech with the conviction that a deep understanding of humans is the basis for building great products.
In my free time you can find me hiking or skiing in the Hudson Valley, making jewelry and other art projects, cooking, and spending time with friends and family.
Interested in trading war stories or learning more about my work?
Or drop me an email: isabelle@defmethod.com
WHY I LOVE PRODUCT

Truly deep customer development
My background is in psychology and I am a naturally empathetic person. I love developing a deep understanding of end users and leveraging both qualitative and quantitative insights to drive product decisions and build a user experience that is intuitive and delightful.

Evangelizing
If I am managing a product it is because I feel absolutely passionate about it. I use that passion to align stakeholders and get buy in from team members on product decisions. I also like to promote and represent the product externally and use those opportunities to continually keep a beat on the competition and market.

Being logical and data-driven
I make decisions based on thorough and sound logic, backed by hard numbers whenever possible. Whether I am winnowing down requirements for an MVP or prioritizing a longer-term product road map I want my team to understand the rationale behind decisions and feel empowered to ask questions and debate.

Focusing on business value
I understand and never lose sight of bigger picture business objectives. I work to tactfully negotiate the tradeoffs between customer requests, technical feasibility, and business value and love to come up with innovative initiatives that strike the right balance between those.